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On September 17, we members of the Catholic Church family honor, in a special way, the following friends of God -- "saints" and "blesseds" whose souls are now in heaven:

St. Robert Bellarmine of Montepulciano [Roberto Bellarmino] (Italian, Jesuit, cardinal archbishop of Capua, refuter of the first Protestants, writer of catechisms, advisor to popes, Doctor of the Church, died at age 78 in 1621 [beatified 1923, canonized 1930])

St. Agathoclia (slave, virgin, tortured, early martyr)
St. Ariadne of Phrygia (from Asia Minor [now called Turkey], prince's slave, martyred c. 130)
St. Brogan of Ossory (Irish, abbot, 7th century)
St. Columba of Cordova (Spanish, nun, martyred [beheaded] by Moslems in 852)
Sts. Crescentio and Narcissus of Rome (Italian, early martyrs)
St. Emmanuel Nguyen Van Trieu of Saigon (Vietnamese, diocesan priest, martyred by beheading at about age 42 in 1798 [beatified 1900, canonized 1988])
St. Flocellus of Autun (French, tortured and martyred [thrown to animals] in 2nd century)
St. Francis Mary Croese of Camporosso [Francesco Maria] [baptized Giovanni Evangelista (John Evangelist)] (Italian, shepherd, Capuchin brother, infirmarian, questor [beggar], nursed cholera victims, died at age 61 in 1866 [beatified 1929, canonized 1962])
Sts. Gordian, Macrinus, and Valerian (early martyrs)
St. Hildegard of Bingen (German, tenth child of noble family, nun, mystic, theologian, advisor to bishops/popes/kings, died at about age 81 in 1179)
St. Justin (priest, martyred in 259)
St. Lambert of Maastricht (Belgian, nobleman, bishop of Tongres-Maastricht, martyred at about age 65 c. 700)
St. Peter Arbues of Aragon [Pedro] (Spanish, canon lawyer, Augustinian priest, inquisitor, martyred by Jews at about age 43 in 1485 [beatified 1664, canonized 1867])
St. Rodingus (Irish, Benedictine missionary priest in Germany, hermit, abbot, d. 7th century)
St. Satyrus of Trier (German, brother of Sts. Ambrose of Milan and Marcellina, lawyer in Italy, d. 376)
Bl. Sigmund Szczesny Felinski of Wojutyn [Zygmunt] (Polish, parish priest, archbishop of Warsaw, founded Franciscan Sisters of the Family of Mary, exiled to Siberia for 20 years, died at age 72 in 1895 [beatified 2002])
St. Theodora of Rome (Italian, noblewoman, martyred in 305)
St. Uni of Saxony (German, Benedictine monk, bishop of Bremen-Hamburg, d. 936)
[Franciscans of the world also remember this as the day on which St. Francis of Assisi received the stigmata in 1224.]

If you have anything to share about these holy people, please reply now -- biographical episodes, prayers through their intercession, the fact that one is your patron -- whatever moves you. If you are interested in one of these saints or blesseds and want to find out more about him/her, please ask. Additional information is sometimes available on the Internet.

All you holy men and women, saints of God, pray for us.
God bless you.
John

-- J. F. Gecik ("jfgecik@hotmail.com), September 17, 2004

Answers

-- ("jfgecik@hotmail.com), September 17, 2004.